2012 Mardi Gras 'King Cake King' tastings kick off with 6 finalists

We know our readers love their king cake. After all, more than 15,400 of you voted in our Best King Cake poll earlier this month. It appears, however, that some of you got carried away in our “wild card” king cake poll, which closed this evening, Jan. 9, at 5 p.m.

The Times-Picayune ArchiveGambino's Bakery is the 'wild card' finalist in our King Cake King quest.

After analyzing the “wild card” votes submitted through our PollDaddy.com poll, we determined that an excessive number were cast from the same computer(s), benefiting two bakeries. In both cases, thousands of votes were tracked back to single machines, overriding a safeguard that we had put into place.

Neither The Times-Picayune nor NOLA.com thinks that either bakery had anything to do with this.

After the irregular votes were removed from the tally, it turns out that Gambino’s Bakery in Gretna and Metairie was revealed as the “wild card” finalist.

That bakery joins the other five finalists from our original poll: Randazzo’s Camellia City Bakery in Slidell, Manny Randazzo King Cakes in Metairie, Nonna Randazzo Bakery in Chalmette and Covington, Haydel’s Bakery in Old Jefferson, and Sucre in Metairie and New Orleans.

Wildcard Votes

Dianne's King Cakes, Harahan: 846

Gambino's Bakery, Gretna and Metairie: 1,160

La Dolce Nola, Metairie: 975

Rouses Supermarkets, various locations: 889

Tastee Donuts’ McKenzie's, New Orleans: 873

Please note: We also analyzed the votes in the original Best King Cake poll containing all 36 reader-recommended bakeries, and we found no such irregularities in that poll. The voting irregularities appear only in the “wild card” poll.

Now that the reader polls are closed, the tastings begin. The bakery to be crowned King Cake King will be determined by our team of tasters.

Each of the six bakeries will be visited. The tastings begin Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 11 a.m. at Nonna Randazzo’s Covington location, 2033 U.S. 190. Our team will be led by food editor Judy Walker, with news reporter Danny Monteverde and a mystery tasting judge.